Reader's Watchdog: Accident leaves mom without car or a claim

Oct. 20, 2013

Vernon Walker

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Vernon J. Walker had already racked up some impressive evidence attesting to his bad driving before he collided with a van carrying small children.

On the morning of Oct. 4, a rainy day in the Des Moines area, the 20-year-old lost control of his car as he turned at the intersection of Watrous Avenue and South Union Street and hit a Chevy van head-on, according to a police report.

His response? Police said he backed up and drove off, even though he is accused of doing serious damage to a van carrying Olivia Allison and her two youngest children, ages 2 and 3.

His mistakes included leaving a license plate attached to his bumper at the scene.

Allison later identified Walker in a lineup, and police have filed a series of charges against him in connection with the crash. But last week, Allison, 25, came to The Des Moines Register Reader’s Watchdog seeking answers to a couple of questions that could prove important.

One: Would the two people who approached her as witnesses to the 8:30 a.m. crash that Friday please get in touch? (You can email me at lrood@dmreg.com.)

One witness, she said, accidentally took off with a piece of paper that had the other witness’s name on it.

Her other question: Does the Progressive Corp. really have a policy of denying claims if its insured clients simply fail to return phone calls?

“When I spoke to the insurance agent assigned to my case ... I was informed that the man who hit me wasn’t answering his phone and that if they couldn’t speak to him within 30 days they would deny my claim!” Allison wrote in a letter to the Reader’s Watchdog.

Iowa is a “fault” car insurance state, meaning the person who was legally at fault for a car accident is liable to pay for resulting injuries or property damage. Drivers are responsible for having a minimum coverage of $25,000 for death or injury, $40,000 for total damages caused by a single accident, and $15,000 for property damage.

In this case, Allison filed a claim with Progressive, Walker’s insurance company. The police report stated that Walker crossed the center line and hit Allison’s van.

I called the Iowa agent assigned to the case, and he did not return my phone call.

So I called Jeff Sibel, the head of Progressive’s media relations.

He said the company is still in the process of gathering information and as many answers as possible.

He said the company does not have a policy of denying claims if calls to customers go unanswered for 30 days, but he acknowledged that was possible if the agent cannot find Walker.

I said that seemed like a bad way to do business. In that scenario, anyone who wanted to avoid insurance claims simply would ignore the phone.

“I understand your point,” Sibel said. “But you could also work through your insurance agent to reach a resolution.”

I’m guessing Sibel said that because he knew Allison was uninsured.

She told me that she had let her own insurance lapse just before the accident. “It was either that, or we would fail to make the mortgage payment,” she said.

Allison also said that the Progressive agent told her that Walker first claimed someone else had hit him. After the agent heard Allison’s side of events, the agent called Walker back, and he was unable to get a hold of him.

The agent also said it was too bad she didn’t have other witnesses, Allison said.

Too bad indeed. Let’s not forget that insurance companies are out to make money, and they aren’t going to bend over backward to spend payout if they don’t have to.

Sibel said the agent can use other means — a letter, going to Walker’s house — to track him down. I asked him to follow up and let me know if the agent ever made contact and what happened to the claim.

In the meantime, it seems Walker has been begging for a little more attention from the criminal justice system.

Court records show that in January, he was convicted of speeding and driving without a registration in Warren County.

In March, he was convicted of speeding, failing to yield, driving with his license revoked and carrying no insurance in connection with another crash.

In July, he was convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia and driving while revoked.

In 2012, Walker was fined twice for speeding in Indianola.

In 2011, he was convicted three times for speeding and once for driving with a suspended license.

There were two other speeding convictions, one for failure to maintain safety belts and an open container violation in the years before that.

Yet he has only faced fines for his poor driving.

In the latest crash, Walker was charged with failure to maintain control, driving while suspended and failing to comply with accident requirements. Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax told me the latter charge is akin to hit-and-run.

None of that, however, helps Allison, a stay-at-home mom who now has no wheels.

She knows she could sue, but in her single-income house, that’s also unlikely.

Here’s hoping Progressive honors the spirit of state law.

There’s a strapped mom in Iowa who needs the company to do the right thing.

Lee Rood’s Reader’s Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com or 515-284-8549. Read past reports at DesMoinesRegister.com/ReadersWatchdog.